Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

I can't get enough

4 (5.2%)

If it is good, I can enjoy a little peak

29 (37.7%)

I could honestly care less

12 (15.6%)

I ignore it, but sometimes it is just distracting

16 (20.8%)

It is annoying, honestly stop!

16 (20.8%)

Total Members Voted: 75

[Neonivek]

Well I am reminded of Meroko from Fullmoon Wo Sagashite

Where technically she is a bunny girl in a rather skimpy outfit.

yet something about the framing always made that outfit seem... rather fitting rather then "Sexy"

[Reelya]

Notably, in the Conan stories themselves, he wore armor. Here are some descriptions of Conan from one novel:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Ch. II: "Black Colossus", by R.E.H.;
1. In this chapter Conan at first is a captain of the mercenaries........"As he passed through a cresset she saw him plainly--a tall man, in the chain-mail hauberk of a mercenary."......."He stood facing her, his hand on the long hilt that jutted forward from beneath the scarlet cloak which flowed carelessly from his mailed shoulders. The torchlight glinted dully on the polished blue steel of his greaves and basinet." "......his sword leaping into his hand with a broad shimmer of blue steel.",
2. "He lifted off his basinet and laid it upon the table, and drew back his coif, letting the mail folds fall upon his massive shoulders."
3. "At her command they brought harness to replace Conan's chain mail--gorget, sollerets, cuirass, pauldrons, jambes, cuisses, and sallet."
4. A description of the mercenaries that among which Conan was a Captain: "Clad from head to foot in chain mail, they wore their vizorless headpieces over linked coifs. Their shields were unadorned, their long lances without guidons. At their saddlebows hung battle axes or steel maces, and each man wore at his hip a long broadsword."
5. In another passage; "He seated himself............, with his broadsword across his knees. With the firelight glinting from his blue steel armor............".
6. "Conan the Cimmerian, restless in his plate armor....".........."He had discarded his plate armor for the more familiar chain mail."

The nudity/loin cloths for the cover art came was the publishers idea. So it was effectively pure fanservice which has become so prevalent as to pollute the core media itself. Conan was a barbarian from a northern region. Nobody runs around nude in the snow, so it doesn't really make sense. We also never see other norse barbarians naked in the movies either: Conan is just presented as this singular dude who likes to run around nude, rather than it being a thing his culture does. There's some fridge logic involved here. It's just there because people came to expect it to be there due to the old cover art, and it's never really explained nor does it fit with the content of the books.

[miauw62]

And many could care less. Implying that they do care. (Should be "could not care less").

Man, I was waiting for somebody to mention this.
Imo," I could care less" is the ultimate indifference: you are indifferent to the indifference itself.

E: Also why care about a common expression. There's so much that doesn't make any fucking sense in English and other languages. People don't think about the expressions they use, it's called speaking fluently.

[Vector]

Hehe, this is a lot of fun ><

Spoiler: Lord Bucket (click to show/hide)

and whatever's wrong with the camera in DBZ that it needed to linger so much on Vegeta's butt.

Actually, that surprises me. I've seen all of Dragonball. Goku getting his shirt torn up more than Captain Kirk, Tenshinhan was half naked pretty much most of the time, I can see how a girl might like Trunks and I guess  Piccolo if you like green...but Vegeta was the fan service?

Goku's great and has a really sweet personality... I had a HUGE crush on him as a kid. I identified more with Piccolo. Tenshinhan was so peripheral and his character design never really moved anywhere after book 16, so not for me--honestly, I'd be more in it for Yamcha, who spends like the entire end of DB protecting Bulma after she's already married to someone else, and I'm not even into Yamcha. Trunks is the only one you'd want to consider dating in real life in terms of personality, but he screamed Awkward Teenager so much that I was more rooting for him than anything else.

I'm not trying to say Vegeta was the fan service, LOL, but he was totally the fan service ^_^ You seldom see him shirtless, but when you do he's wearing basically nothing and really scarred up. The interplay between the way he's posed wearing skin-tight clothing, constantly humiliated, and the fact that you never see much above the neckline (seriously, there's like two scenes in the entire thing where he doesn't have gloves on?) creates a tension for the viewer

For the latter category, I liked Evangelion a lot.

Who? For me, Rei was a great big no, and Asuka was a big disappointment. She should have been fan service. She had so much potential tobe. But she just failed to deliver. I don't t remember her ever successfully being sexy. Ritsuko was hot, and she had her moments of skimpy attire, but she was so not my type it was difficult to enjoy them very much. Basically leaving Misato who I think was not intended to be sexy at all, but she was kind of the only female character in the show who wasn't obviously a nutcase, which sort of left her most attractive by default.

Shinji was...Shinji. So I'm guessing the final Angel? Kaworu? I guess I can see how he could possibly by sexy if that's your type. But if you liked Vegita's butt, I wouldn't think he would be yours.

Yeah, that was kind of the point for me. At the end of the episode, Misato always promises us: "Next time, more fanservice!" But then there is none, really. Everyone's gorgeous, but they're fourteen and act like it or they have terrible personalities (Kaji, Misato, Ritsuko, Gendo, I could go on). So... anti-fanservice? You expect fanservice, but then you never get any. It doesn't really function as, er, fanservice as such for me, but it's a quality I like and actively look for in shows.

Shampoo was definitely the winner there. But she was more emotional than sexy fanservice. She was absolutely devoted to the death, and very affectionate about it. Crazy, yes, but she was the "I'm your crazy" kind of crazy. A bit like Harley Quinn, actually. Yes, she has boobs, yes she's good looking...but that's not why you like her. And I don't remember her being sexualized much. She dressed very conservatively, routinely with everything from neck to ankles covered.

Most of the fan service in Ranma was focused on on Ranma and on the Tendo sisters. With Ranma...well, there was kind of a lot for "her" but "she" was a guy, which I found made the fan service focused on him not very appealing. Guy, transformed against his will into an admittedly verypretty girl, and then...say, gets into a fight, her blouse gets cut up and the guy she's fighting starts bleeding at those nose all over everything. Ok yes, Ilike boobs, but this is just not a a fan servicey situation in my book.

And the Tendo sisters in general were all good examples of the Japanese finding ways to make what should be sexy not sexy at all. Akane was completely unappealing. They obviously tried to make her appealing, she was the designated love interest, she constantly had all sorts of "I'm working out" scenes, I think she even had panty shots as part of the opening credits, but never, ever was Akane in any way the least bit attractive to me.

Nabiki was too untrustworthy to be attractive. And Kasumi...she wasn't really sexualized much. Her angle was "I would make a good wife and mother to your children" which is all well and good...but that's not exactly fan service in the sense I think we're talking about. Kodachi? Yeah, no. Ukyo? She was so not sexualized...remember, everyone thought she was a guy. Then there's all the weird stuff that happened in the later seasons, and I'd call just about everything that ever happened involving any kind of nudity or implied nudity in any episode involving Happosai to be fan disservice. Overall, for all the sex and strategic shirt-tears from combat in Ranma...there just wasn't all that much fan service that was very...serviceable.

So, first of all, boy-Ranma is really cute even if he's a total knucklehead. It doesn't hurt that there is also girl-Ranma involved. Second of all, Akane being totally unappealing is kind of the point. She's the character the reader is supposed to identify with--Ranma is HER designated love interest. Whenever anyone tries to make her be fanservicey, she beats them up. She doesn't ever wear cute clothes. But Ranma, Ryouga, and Kunou like her anyway, and she's a tough martial artist. The working-out scenes aren't supposed to be hot! They're not drawn hot. She's just supposed to be relatable, and teenaged girls do not relate to hot. It's a female power fantasy, LOL. I think they did try to sexualize her for the anime, though, which was kind of a travesty because... again, as you've noticed, that is not a character design you can make sexy. Kind of like Asuka, who also ended up being a power fantasy more than a sexual one.

I agree with you on Happosai. I stopped enjoying the series, like, at all after he became so central to it.

the kind I like is usually either pretty subtle or of the "anti-fanservice" variety.

Out of curiosity, how did you feel about the Conan movies? Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime running around in a loin cloth. Not at all subtle, but given the context of the movie it made sense for him to be almost naked, and I don't ever remember feeling like it was done for fan service. Just, he was a barbarian. That was the premise of the movies. National Geographic visits africa isn't fan service either.

Or Dr Manhattan from Watchmen. Or Mystique from X-men. Sometimes nudity just makes sense. Though there are some border cases. The Terminator series, for example. Was the whole "only living things can time travel" thing just an excuse to have fan service? Or was it necessary for the story to explain why they didn't bring high tech weapons, and therefore they had to be naked. Again, I don't remember feeling like any of these were fan service. They were simply situations where nudity made sense.

Mystique felt fanservicey to me in the movies because her character is introduced seducing others to get her way, and then she shows up naked with a husky voice and etc. Yes, it makes sense for her to be naked, character-wise, but it's framed as fanservice.

Watchmen is a very thorough example of anti-fanservice, which you'd expect because it's a genre deconstruction like Evangelion. I didn't see the Conan movies, but in general straight-up beefcake/cheesecake does basically nothing for me.

I can't stand another minute more of the boob shot panty shot giggle giggle I'm a girl molesting another girl whoops I tripped into her cleavage tee hee stuff, though. There's such a creepy stalker vibe to all of it that grosses me out.

...Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya? The Haruhi on Mikuru maid outfit scene? Minus the "oops" part anyway.

Personally I found that uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it was intended to be fan service, or intended to be a guilt-tripping mockery fan disservice. Either way, again...the Japanese have a talent for showing beautiful half naked girls in clearly sexual contexts that are thoroughly unappealing.

I'm thinking specifically of Haruhi, but I've seen this dynamic in so many other shows at this point that I wouldn't say it's Haruhi-specific. The last harem manga I enjoyed on any level was actually Love Hina, and that was a LONG time ago. Most Western fanservice does not appeal to me at all, either, since women are so consistently framed as passive with that baby-doll face and the men have no personalities.

[LordBucket]

it was effectively pure fanservice which has become so prevalent as to pollute the core media itself. Conan was a barbarian from a northern region. Nobody runs around nude in the snow, so it doesn't really make sense. We also never see other norse barbarians naked in the movies either: Conan is just presented as this singular dude who likes to run around nude, rather than it being a thing his culture does. There's some fridge logic involved here. It's just there because people came to expect it to be there due to the old cover art, and it's never really explained nor does it fit with the content of the books.

I haven't read the books, but I'm not sure that's a fair characterization of the first movie,at least. Yes, like you point out, nobody was running around nude in the snow. His people were shown wearing heavy furs with pretty much full body coverage, the women included and thesoldiers were wearing heavy armor and helmets. Running around naked was not part of the culture and it wasn't shown to be part of the culture. But he was then kidnapped and spent the first quarter the movie and most of his life as a slave pushing around a millstone and fighting in gladiator matches. Clothing was not something he had a lot of say in during that time.

When he finds the sword in the cave, killing some wolves and turning them into clothes is the first thing he does. For most of the rest of the movie he did wear clothes, he did wear armor, and he favored metal armor when he knew he was going into battle. But when he was a slave or scavenger he was shown as destitute, when we was crucified they took his clothes, and when walking for days between towns he routinely ditched the heavy armor to travel light.

Yes, in retrospect I'm sure showing him naked was on the director's mind however plausibly it was presented, and while looking for pictures I do notice that the second movie was handled less well than the first. For example, I'll grant you that let's talk to the princess in a loincloth didn't make sense even in context. But overall I think they were handled reasonably. Certainly when I watched them I don't remember ever thinking "ok, guys...stop it, this is dumb." And I have myself thinking that from time to time in other media.

She's just supposed to be relatable, and teenaged girls do not relate to hot. It's a female power fantasy,

Ok. Then maybe we need to differentiate between types of fan service. I think most of us came into this thread thinking gratuitous boobs, panty shots and bikini armor. Power fantasy isn't that. Again, Shampoo is immediately my first thought for designated "Miss Fanservice" from Ranma but she's generally portrayed conservatively, usually wearing full coverage clothing, high collar dresses and even in the obligatory beach episodes she pretty consistently favored wearing one piece bathing suits over bikinis.

Sure, she had her fetishy moments. But overall, what made her sexy was not panty and boob shots. That's not the kind of fan service she gave. With Shampoo it was more, "I am your crazy, and I'll fight anyone to the death to remain yours."

You mention female fantasy...well, that right there is a powerful male fantasy.

[Leafsnail]

Asuka was a big disappointment. She should have been fan service. She had so much potential tobe. But she just failed to deliver. I don't t remember her ever successfully being sexy.

I am sorry that the 14-year-old girl did not sexually excite you

e: In all seriousness though "what sexually excites you" isn't really a topic Toady wants to have here.

[Morrigi]

I think it really depends on the context. Regardless, fanservice sells, always has, and always will, and complaining about it is as futile as complaining about the nature of human sexuality.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

What is fan service?

[karhell]

What is fan service?

Wrong context, Martinuzz (unless you're kidding).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_service

Fanservice generally refers to added nudity / bikinis or sexy shots in general added to a work of media, presumably to bring in more viewers/readers.

This.

Personally, I really don't mind fanservice, as long as it doesn't distract from the main story.

[4maskwolf]

Here's my two cents on fanservice.

When it makes sense in context, I'll deal with it. For example, the amusing scen in SAO 2 where Sinom strips down to her underwear to get changed into her battle gear was fine.  I didn't like, though, when later the camera would pan in on her rear end randomly during conversation scenes: it's annoying, makes no sense, and wasn't where any if the characters were looking.

For the gender-flipped example of what I would just overlook if I were interested in males, the "Thor washes his upper body after a fight" scene made enough sense in context it doesn't bother me, even though it's only there for fanservice and no other purpose (and from hearing my female friends talk about that movie, apparently it was pretty major fanservice: I'll never understand them)

[TempAcc]

I'm with everyone that says fanservice is ok as long as it fits with the general theme of the show or if it (at the very least) makes sense in context. One manga series that made really good usage of fanservice was family compo, a manga about a guy who loses his mother and goes to live with his aunt's family, who has a daughter who constantly switches genders and he spends the entirety of the manga trying to find out her true gender while also developing feelings for her, which causes him a lot of distress since he's constantly afraid that she may really be a guy.
In this situation, the fanservice was used as a way to convey to the reader the same tension and doubt that the protagonist was going through, and its done masterfuly, without ever going into porn territory. They do kinda abuse it on the covers, which might mislead some people into thinking its smut, when its really great and hilarious comedic romance.

In regards to bad usage of fanservice, Gainax often overdoes it so much that it became known for its forced fanservice. Sometimes they do it masterfuly and integrate it very well with the story, like in Gunbuster (which is awesome and you should go and watch it), but lately they've been failing to do it outside of comedy.
A fair bit of american fiction works, be it books, comic books or movies, have been doing it REALLY BADLY lately too. Sons of Anarchy did it TONS OF TIMES with the male leads and some female characters that everyone started making fun of it.

[Andres]

Towards the end of my ~10 years of anime-fanhood, I started seeing an increasing number of shows that seemed fairly sincere and non-exploitative, but eventually turned out to be plotless, characterless husks -- hollow vessels for gratuitous and creepy perv-service.

Fucking Sword Art Online.

Though when a male character has that role in the west they tend to be part of the military... and no woman almost ever has that role... it is almost like the west believes women are emotional basket cases and the idea of an emotionally in control woman would be wholly unbelievable.

In the 90's there was a trend where women were written as ice queens who were actually emotionally vulnerable once they let a man into their lives.

For example, the fanservice in Metal Gear is great, as are the stupid Attack on Titan bondage uniforms and whatever's wrong with the camera in DBZ that it needed to linger so much on Vegeta's butt.

Probably the last female-flavored fanservice I remember enjoying came from Integra Hellsing...

I never really saw the AoT uniforms as bondage clothes or anything. To me it looked practical on the women and effeminate (at worst) on the men. It didn't seem like the camera lingered on his butt but I did occasionally noticed how weird it (the butt) looked, how it was so thin and blocky. Never thought that there was intentional camera work there so thanks for corrupting me I guess.

Fanservice of Integra Hellsing!? Where the bloody hell was that in the entire series!? Seras Victoria yeah but Integra?

Hideako Anno did explicitly promise viewers "something to drool over in every episode".

To me that seems like an extension of the '"more fanservice next episode" and not delivering on it' thing the show had going for it. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

I am sorry that the 14-year-old girl did not sexually excite you

It really shouldn't if you're an adult.

I don't like fanservice at all. Very rarely I appreciate it's there because it just makes sense for the character (Yang from RWBY is the only example that comes to mind) but I don't really enjoy it. What I absolutely loathe down to my very core is when they start showing fanservice where it is really, really inappropriate. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the prime example of this, the fanservice of the show centering on the main character - a girl that's 8 or 9 years-old tops. Seriously Japan, WTF!?

Gilgamesh's fanservice scene in Fate/Zero (you know the one) was pretty funny, though without any clothes or armour on he didn't look attractive at all what with his upper body basically looking like a triangle with abs covering his torso in the dozens. It was worse than DBZ.

[Flying Dice]

like in Gunbuster (which is awesome and you should go and watch it), but lately they've been failing to do it outside of comedy.

I fully concur, Gunbuster is one of the best things there is, but subtle it ain't when it came to (some of) the fanservice. The scene that a few seconds from 0:49 in the intro is taken from is, I imagine, when a decent segment of the people watching the show had realized that they'd hit puberty. 

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is the prime example of this, the fanservice of the show centering on the main character - a girl that's 8 or 9 years-old tops. Seriously Japan, WTF!?

Wait, when was this? All I remember about MGLN was that it was Gundam with people instead of mecha. They didn't even go for fanservice in StrikerS after the cast had grown up. Like, the most non-PG thing in the original run was Precia being a crazy abusive mother.

...Unless you're talking about the smut that the show was sort of derived from as a(n ultimately more successful) spinoff, the Triangle Hearts whatever about her older siblings and parents being sexy modern ninjas or whatever it was. Can't say I ever had that cross my desk.

[TempAcc]

Well, yea :v, gunbuster was anything but subtle with its fanservice, but it integrated fanservice into its art style. You were basically expected to see exposed bits and breasts bouncing, so it was never jarring or out of place , and the show had a lot of different things to offer, IE it never relied ONLY on the fanservice to be awesome, since it was awesome in every way.

[Flying Dice]

Honestly the thing I appreciate most about Gunbuster is the way it demonstrated that you don't need fifty gorram episodes to spin a good yarn.